Durban moves to stop heavy water losses
Water losses of almost 300 million litres a day occur in the eThekwini Municipality's water reticulation system because of old leaky pipes, illegal connections and "unavoidable losses".
That's the word from the municipal head of water and sanitation, Neil Macleod. However, he said on Wednesday that the city was making headway in curbing losses with 16 interventions, including the massive R1.6 billion asbestos cement pipe replacement programme.
"With water demand rising and leaks escalating because of the old crumbling pipe infrastructure, we realised 18 months ago that quick action was essential to prevent demand exceeding supply. We embarked on a focused programme to identify and treat the problem," he said.
The municipality buys 880 million litres of water a day, but currently only sells 590 million litres to consumers. The world standard is to accommodate for about 20 percent for non-revenue water or water loss.
"In Durban, because of ageing water infrastructure and illegal connections, that went up to 40 percent a few years ago," said Macleod. "However, since we embarked on our loss-reduction projects 18 months ago, it now stands at around 33 percent and I've set a target for my team to bring it down through our interventions to around 23 percent by 2014."
He said the pipe replacement programme would see almost 1.8 million metres of old asbestos cement pipes being replaced by June this year. The new, modified, polyvinyl chloride pipes are expected to provide about 50 years of leak-free service. With the old pipe footprint being around 3 million metres, the project is expected to be extended with more funding.
"These old pipes have not been replaced for 40 years and they have been eaten away because of our 'soft water' along the coast," said Macleod. "That's why we've been having an increased number of burst pipes in recent years, which has been a major contributor to water loss."
He said R37.3m had been invested in various water-loss reduction projects in the 2009 financial year, and R65m had been budgeted for the current year. This included reducing the water pressure in the municipality and replacing old water meters, which were under-reading water bills in some cases.
Macleod said about 10 percent of water losses were a result of illegal connections. The municipality was taking a less aggressive approach by, for example, giving a three-month amnesty to those illegally connected.
"The tough approach does not work, so the city has come up with a new policy to deal with illegal connections," he said. "After the amnesty, those that don't come clean will have to face the prospect of not only paying for the water but penalties too.
"People need to realise that if everyone pays, then everyone will benefit through lower water costs. Also, digging up of roads and water cuts as a result of putting in new infrastructure should be seen as short-term pain for long-term gain."
The Mercury
Posted at 09:21AM Jan 14, 2010 by Editor in Residential |